National briefs

The NSW government has ducked claims it manipulated dam water levels to improve the privatisation proposition for Sydney’s Kurnell desalination plant.

If the water levels at Warragamba dam are above 80 per cent, the desalination plant must be shut down. Sydney’s Sun-Herald reported a claim by the Greens that Warragamba dam is at 78.9 per cent capacity but had the supply from the overflowing Tallowa dam been continued, it would be at more than 90 per cent capacity. In response, the Minister for Primary Industries and Small Business
Katrina Hodgkinson
said water was released from Tallowa dam each day for environmental flows and for upstream river users. Emily Parkinson

Australia’s rise in unemployment last month didn’t fully reflect the demand for workers in an economy that continued to outperform the US and Europe, Treasurer
Wayne Swan
said yesterday. Recent jobs data had underestimated the strength of demand for labour in our economy given an increase in working hours. Australia’s unemployment rate jumped to a 10-month high of 5.3 per cent in August. Bloomberg

Federal Special Minister of State
Gary Gray
was recovering in Perth yesterday after fainting at a funeral at Fitzroy Crossing on Saturday. His condition, requiring hospitalisation initially, was described as not serious. The Labor government minister holds the outer-metropolitan Perth electorate of Brand. AAP

Australia’s love affair with property is about to turn sour as an “economic tsunami" looks set to hit world markets, American economic forecaster Harry Dent says.

Mr Dent, who arrived in Australia yesterday, predicts the world will experience a second, deeper downturn, which will arrive between the beginning and the middle of next year. Starting in Europe, the downturn will spread to the US, China and eventually Australia, he said. “Australia is probably the best place in the world to survive this, but we do think Australia will not escape as well as it did from the last crisis [in 2008]," Mr Dent said. At the centre of the coming debt crisis was real estate, the forecaster said. AAP

About 70 people have protested outside the office of controversial federal independent MP
Bob Katter
, in what’s been described as Mount Isa’s first gay rally. Organiser James Newburrie said Mr Katter was out of whack with the local community on the issue of same-sex marriage. AAP